1. Field of Invention
A rifle stabilizer assembly attaching to a front stock of a rifle provides an assortment of stabilizing elements to enhance the shooting potential of a rifle, the assembly providing a stabilizer bar attached to the underside of a front rifle stock, a barrier block attachment, a bipod adapter attachment and a tripod adapter attachment, each attachment selectively chosen by a shooter as appropriate for a selected shot while in competition, hunting or combat.
2. Description of Prior Art
A preliminary review of prior art patents was conducted by the applicant which reveal prior art patents in a similar field or having similar use. However, the prior art inventions do not disclose the same or similar elements as the present rifle stabilizer assembly, nor do they present the material components in a manner contemplated or anticipated in the prior art.
It is known in the art that certain fixed mounting systems exist, providing for mounting systems to a rifle that compose rails. These include Picatiny and Weaver systems, which employ recoil grooves with a similar profile mounted to a front stock of a rifle for attachment of a bipod for long range shooters. They provide a rail with specific grooves of width and depth and mount a bipod, with the bipod including grooved channels which accept the rail and provide for recoil during the act of shooting. The is no fixed connection between the rail and the bipod mounting bracket. Another system known to shooters is the “Arca Rail” system and Arca rail clamp, together called and Arca-Swiss interface, for mounting cameras to tripods, which has been adapted for rifle mounting. Other known mounting systems include Keymod, M-Lok, Hkey, AI Keyslot and UTT/Anschutz rails.
With regard to prior art patents, a first patent, U.S. Pat. No. 7,856,748 to Mertz, provides a bipod support and mount for a firearm, providing a front leg support with two extending legs, with the leg support including two bore within which the two bipod legs attach by a respective ball joint. A ball is mounted to a rifle stock which mounts a ball mount receiver to receive the ball. In certain embodiments, a leg keeper or a band strap are also included toward the trigger along the front stock to squeeze the legs under the front stock when not in use. A similar retractable bipod system is demonstrated in U.S. Pat. No. 7,770,320 to Bartak, which provides a stock mounting body member attaching to an internally threaded opening, provided in most rifles for attaching a front end of a swivel mounted strap. The stock mounting body member includes a pair of parallel bores which provide for containment of a pair of bipod legs, which are pulled out of the bores, each leg defining a ball that installs within sockets formed at each bore opening. A third prior art patent application, U.S. Patent Application No. 2008/0307689 to Dotson, provides a replacement front stock for a rifle which includes a forearm chamber within a stock forearm, at least one frame member secured within the forearm chamber and a leg slidingly attached to the frame member at a pin, the leg capable of being in a fully stored position being generally within the forearm chamber, or being fully deployed in a position in which the leg is allowed to slide along the frame member out of a forearm chamber, pivot about a pin into a position which is generally perpendicular to the frame member and barrel to interact with a surface to support and steady the rifle. There is shown two parallel formed slots in each side.
None of the prior art indicates a bar rail defining a linear dovetail mechanism, installation of one or more barrier blocks within the dovetail mechanism selectively locking at least one locking pin elevated within one of a plurality of evenly spaced upper lock pin indents, allowing for independent selective placement of each barrier block while allowing a degree of rotational manipulation of each barrier block while locked into position within the bar rail, installation of a bipod mounting member within the same bar rail, with the bipod mounting member upwardly extending a dovetail extension with at least one locking pin selectively engaging at least one of the plurality of evenly spaced upper locking pin indents and extending a lower bipod mounting base, or a tripod mounting member upwardly extending a dovetail extension with at least one locking pin selectively engaging at least one of the plurality of evenly spaced upper locking pin indents and extending a lower tripod mounting base, all of them providing for the engagement and release of the respective locking pin by a manual pin locking means, for installation and removal of each barrier block, bipod mounting member or tripod mounting member.